Fastener tie



Sept. 19, 1961 E. F. PlERS, JR

FASTENER TIE Filed Jan. 4, 1960 INVENTOR. EBER F. PIERS JR.

ATTO NEV Uni sd a es, te f 3,000,384 FASTENER TIE Eber F. Piers, Jr.,2436 Inverness Ave., Hollywood, Calif. Filed Jan. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 1712 Claims. (Cl. 132-46) The present invention is directed generally to afastener tie or adjustable band and more particularly to such a devicefor use by women in encircling and binding a hank or lock of their hairin a desired shape such as in a pony tail or the like.

In the preferred form the device in accordance with the presentinvention is made up of an elongated carrier such as a tape or band offlexible material having on opposite faces thereof surfaces providedwith interengaging means, the interengaging surfaces beinglongitudinally spaced apart. By preference the interengaging surfacesare those incorporated in closures commercially identified by thetrademark Velcro wherein one surface includes a multiplicity of smalloutwardly projecting loops of thin filamentary material and the othersurface is provided with a multiplicity of curly or crinkled filamentarymembers interengageable with the loops when the-surfaces are juxtaposed.One end of the tape is provided with loop means large enough to permitthe other or free end of the tape to be threaded through the loop.Desirably a portion of the tape or carrier is longitudinally elastic andin the preferred form of the invention hereafter described the elasticportion has the loop fixed thereto. The part of the tape having onopposite faces thereof the selectively interengageable surfaces is inthe opposite end portion of the tape. I

In use the free or non-looped end of the tape is threaded through theloop and the thus threaded end is bent back upon itself so oriented thatthe interengaging surface of the bent back portion is facing inwardly inadjacent relation with the remaining portion of the tape forming thefastener tie or band about a hank of hair or the like: The free end iscontinued around the periphery of the band until the inwardly directedelements on the interengaging surface of the free end are brought intointerengaging fastening contact with the outwardly directed elements ofthe other of the interengaging surfaces.

Use of the specific interengaging surfaces referred to and describedabove is particularly desirable Where the present fastener tie is usedas a band around a hank or lock of hair since neither of the surfacesadheres to or becomes intertwined with hair, so the tie is readilyremovable.

Accordingly it is a principal object of the invention to disclose anovel construction of a flexible tape to form a band encircling a lockor hank of human air or the like and easily removable therefrom withoutany entanglement with the hair. Other objects of the invention are toprovide such a device including a tape having a longitudinally elasticportion therein; to provide such a device including selectively mutuallyinterengageable surfaces on opposite faces of a portion of the tape andlongitudinally spaced apart; to provide such a device wherein suchmutually fastenable surfaces do not stick or otherwise engage the hairaround which the band extends in use; and for other and additionalobjects and purposes as will be clear from a study of the followingdescription of a preferred embodiment of the invention taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary rear perspective view of the head of a womanincluding a pony tail having the retaining band of the present inventionmounted thereon.

FIG. 2 is a developed view of the band of the present invention, aportion being shown folded backwardly for clarity of illustration.

F1216. 3 is a sectional view taken on line IIIIII of FIG. 4 is a viewsimilar to FIG. 3 but on a somewhat exaggerated scale and with the partsshown in expanded relation for clarity of explanation.

Referring now in detail to the drawing and first to FIG. 1 thereof,there is shown a Womans head indicated generally at 10 having a lock orbank 12 of the hair thereon gathered into a pony tail 14 extendingrearwardly of the head and the pony tail being retained in position by afastener tie or band in accordance with the present invention indicatedgenerally at 16.

FIG. 2 shows the fastener tie 16 in developed form. When the tieincludes an elastic portion it may be one end portion of the band and ishere indicated at 20. At the extreme end of the elastic portion 20 thereis provided an elongated eye member 22 providing a generally rectangularopening 24. The eye 22 is connected to the tape by suitable means suchas a tab portion 26 folded back upon the main portion 20 and securedthereto as by stitching 28.

The remaining portion 29 of the tape or band need not be elastic, andmeans are provided on opposite faces of the tape portion 29 which areselectively interengageable or fastenable together. In the presentillustration of the invention such means include, on one face of thetape, a surface 30 consisting of a multiplicity of small filamentarymembers of curled or crinkled configuration constituting a sort of matsurface. On the opposite face of the tape and desirably extending to theoutermost end of the tape there is provided a mating surface 32consisting of a multiplicity of small loops made of filamentarymaterial, the material being stiff enough so that the loops projectoutwardly from the face of the tape. The two surfaces 30 and 32 displaythe property that when they are brought into juxtaposition, a number ofthe individual filamentary members on the surface 30 become intertwinedwith the outwardly projecting loops formed in the surface 32 and therebyretain the parts in assembled or fastened relation. They may beseparated from one another by peeling the surfaces apart. The surfaceswhen fastened together strongly resist relative longitudinal movement.For convenience of reference the surface 30 with its individualfilamentary members forming a mat may be referred to as the male surfacewhile the surface 32 with its multiplicity of loops of filamentarymaterial may be referred to as the female surface. It will be understoodthat the two surfaces as thus identified may be reversed in theirlocation in the device of the present invention.

The use of the present invention in forming a band to retain a hank orlock of hair in a desired design or arrangement such as is illustratedin FIG. 1 will be understood by reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The free endof the tape distant from the elongated eye 22 is threaded through theopening 24 of the eye in such a way that when the free end is doubledback upon itself the female surface 32 will be directed inwardly towardthe center of the spiral-like configuration thus formed. By reason ofthe fact that surfaces 30 and 32 are spaced apart or staggered, they arebrought into substantial alignment when the tape is coiled or wound asshown. Accordingly the female surface 32 is in position forjuxtaposition and consequent fastening engagement with the male surface30 when the free end of the tape bearing the female surface 32 iswrapped around the entire structure as indicated in FIG. 4. When used,the elastic portion 20 of the tape permits the band to be cinched uparound the lock of hair as tightly as desired by the slidable engagementof the tape through the eye opening 24. The parts will thus assume therelationship indicated in FIG. 3 with the successive turns or lays ofthe tape in close 3 contact in the spiral configuration. If desired someother part of the tape can be made elastic, such 'asthe portion havingsurfaces 30 and 32 thereon; or the elastic characteristics may beeliminated.

The hair retaining band in accordance with thepr esent invention isparticularly advantageous in that neither of the surfaces 30 or 32 hasany particular aflinity for human hair itself so that there is notendency for entanglement of one or more strands of hair'in the band;fastening and unfastening of the band are hence facilitated. Furthermoreit will be evident that the interengaging surfaces 30 and 32 may, ifdesired, extend throughout the entire length of tape portion 29, but itis characteristic of the invention that at least operative portions ofthe surfaces are longitudinally spaced apart on the tape so that suchoperative portions will 'be juxtaposed when the tape is wound on a lockof hair as described. It is also to be noted that when the band isassembled in operative position as indicated in FIG. 3 and in explodedform in FIG. 4, the tension exerted by the resilient portion of the tapeupon the mating interengaging surfaces 30 and 32 tends to move suchsurfaces longitudinally of one another and this is the type of movementwhich these surfaces are best designed to resist. It will be evidentthat the tape can be quickly removed from the hair by merely flippingoutwardly the free end of the tape so that the entire band can bequickly unwound from the lock of hair.

Modifications and changes from the specific form of the invention hereinshown and described as 'apr'eferred embodiment will occur to thoseskilled in the art. All such modifications and changes not departingfrom the spirit of the invention are intended to be embraced within thescope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A fastener comprising: an elongated flexible tape having on oppositefaces thereof interengageable mating surfaces including a first surfaceprovided with a multiplicity of small outwardly projecting loops made ofstiflE filamentary material and a second surface havinga multiplicity ofcurly filamentary members releasably interengageable with said loops,operative portions of said surfaces being displaced from one anotherlongitudinally of the tape.

2. The fastener as stated in claim 1 wherein a portion of the tape islongitudinally elastic.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,324,975 Morris Dec. 16, 1919 2,595,657 Harmon May 6, 1952 FOREIGNPATENTS 21,379 Switzerland Jan. 25, 1901

